A Long Way Home
by Cearta Day
Summary: A collection of scenes from the trolley ride home at the end of Digimon Adventure


A/N: So that poster of them around the old trolley for Digimon Tri? That got me beyond excited for the new season. Here's a little something to celebrate. Set right after they fly away in the trolley at the end of season 1

A collection of little scenes from the trolley ride home at the end of Digimon Adventure

* * *

A Long Way Home

Tai sat propped up on his knees with his elbows pressed up against the glass. The trolley ride was taking an unusually long time. Hadn't traveling between worlds previously been instantaneous? He allowed his head to drop to the window, forehead vibrating against the rattling glass. Outside, various streaks of color zoomed by but Tai failed to focus on any of them.

Izzy sat in the seat beside him on his laptop. If Tai had been looking at the screen properly he would've noticed that it was still on the homepage and he was clicking around the screen aimlessly while allowing the end of their adventure to soak in.

"Hey, Iz. You'll still hang out with me after this, right?" Tai hadn't turned away from the window, but Izzy looked over at him quickly as if shocked out of his stupor by Tai's sudden question.

"We'll all be friends after this, right?" he continued, voice tight. "We just left half the team behind, but the rest of our group doesn't need to fall apart, right?"

Izzy tapped a few keys. The continuation of this group hadn't crossed his mind. He hadn't thought of life after this trolley ride which was strange considering his normal track record of curiosity for the unknown. There's no bigger unknown than what would happen next.

"A guy like you and a guy like me?" Izzy said thoughtfully. "I don't think friends is the right word. I don't think we're all going to stick together because we're friends. I think we're going to stick together because we have to."

Tai brought his head up off the window.

Izzy continued, "I think that no one on Earth is going to understand what happened there. I don't think they'll want to understand either. We'll need each other."

Tai twisted around to look at Izzy, computer in his lap and a serious expression. He didn't appear any different from when Tai had first met him.

"Yeah, I guess we will."

* * *

Matt was never one to communicate with words. He sat at the very back of the trolley pretending to doze off while quietly watching his little brother's antics. TK had already had his crying session, so now while everyone else was a bit sullen, he was going around from person to person sharing his excitement over the crazy colors that were rushing by the windows and all of the shapes they were making.

"That yellow smudge looked like a pirate ship! There was even a purple guy about to walk the plank!" he said to Sora whose frown turned into a small smile as she nodded at the younger boy.

"Purple guy is doing a cartwheel now!" Kari exclaimed as a splash of purple went spiraling passed the window. Her knees that had been up by her chin came down as she leaned forward toward the window opposite of her.

"Purple guy's got some moves," Sora chuckled.

"Cartwheels aren't 'moves'. They're easy," Tai said.

"Then you do one."

"Cart! Wheel! Cart! Wheel! Cart! Wheel!" Mimi chanted. TK and Kari quickly joined in.

The look on Tai's face was one of pure regret. "Okay, step aside everyone."

Thus started the cartwheel contest that TK tried multiple times to get Matt to join in on. The contest stopped after Izzy nearly faceplanted on his fourth try, and Sora was named the cartwheel champion. Afterward TK went to the back of the trolley to sit beside Matt who pretended not to notice. Both brothers watched the colors outside of the trolley window and were reminded of a subway ride home that had ended with a fight between TK and Patamon.

"I don't want to go home either," TK said.

Matt pursed his lips. He'd never said he didn't want to go home. Maybe it was obvious or maybe it was only logical that after months of being with such a close knit group he wouldn't want to go back to spending a majority of his summer days home alone.

"You don't miss Mom?" Matt asked.

"I do! But I miss you too. When I'm home I mean." TK was rubbing his feet together nervously. "You all live in Odaiba together, and I'll be in Kawada wondering if you're all okay."

Matt looked down at his brother. "Why wouldn't we be okay?"

TK shrugged. "I don't know."

They sat in silence for awhile after that while the rest of the trolley passengers were having conversations, some serious and some light, the brothers didn't speak though they shared the same thoughts.

"We're supposed to go to grandma's in a few weeks," Matt said. "But I think I'd have some time to visit before that."

A smile was already spreading across TK's cheeks. "You mean you'd come to my house?"

"Sure," Matt said and TK sprang out of his seat.

"I get to show you my room! And my fish! I call him Chiko. Oh, do you think you could teach Mom how to cook a few things while you're there?"

TK went on for awhile eventually causing Matt to give up on hiding his grin. Their joy was contagious and fairly soon the whole trolley was feeding off of the brothers' excitement.

* * *

"Miss" is a very large four-letter word, and Jou didn't want any part in it. While watching his partner and the strange world he'd come to respect shrink as the trolley zoomed away, he decided that as much as he might like to return he refused to outright "miss" the Digital World. After all, as fantastical as the past few months had been the majority of his life was still as a part of the human world, as a son, brother, and student. He was not a chosen child first; he was not a chosen child at all.

"Joe?" A few seats down was Kari, legs pulled to her chest and expression thoughtful. "Do you think the digimon will remember us?"

He was baffled by the question. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Because what if the whole thing will end up seeming like a dream to them?" She hugged her knees tighter. "We're going to go home to a normal life with only our digivices to remember them by. They don't even have digivices to remember us by. She clutched her chest where her whistle used to hang. "I gave Gatomon my whistle so that she'll remember me." She sighed. "And I know I'll see her again but until then… will I just be a dream?"

Joe readjusted his glasses. He doubted that this child was actually eight. "I mean, with all the damage to the city we have plenty to remember them by," he joked but didn't get even a chuckle out of Kari. "Eventually we need to move on and get back into the swing of things, you know? No point in crying over it."

Tears welled up in Kari's eyes and Joe remembered very abruptly that she was, in fact, eight. He waved his hands sporadically. "No, don't cry! I'm just saying that crying won't bring us back to them! I'm just saying—oh, I don't know what I'm saying…"

Matt was giving Joe a 'you're-really-bad-at-this' look and beside him sat TK who looked like he wanted to cry too. Joe sighed heavily and massaged his forehead then he leaned toward Kari and talked quietly so the rest of the trolley passengers couldn't hear him. "If I'm going to be honest, this right here is why the digimon can't be a dream."

She wiped her eyes. "Why's that?"

"Because leaving a dream doesn't hurt this bad."

She watched Joe carefully. "It's okay if you miss Gomamon."

"Missing is kind of… a big word."

"That's okay," she said and leaned in toward Joe as if her next words were a dire secret. "This was a big adventure."

Joe laughed and soon so did Kari with no traces of tears left.

* * *

Sora lazily watched the colors speeding by the window. It was mostly mixes of yellows, oranges, and pale reds with the occasional splash of purple or green. The image was relaxing and enough to put her to sleep after so much time spent in the trolley. Matt played his harmonica quietly and Kari was dozing off against her arm. She was in no hurry for this trolley ride to end.

Mimi, on the other hand, sat across from her steadily tapping her foot and straining to look out the window as if she could possibly find a landmark to tell her where they were going.

"Anxious?" Sora asked.

"Ready." Mimi didn't bother removing her eyes from the window to look at Sora when she replied. "As long as we're on this trolley, it feels like the goodbyes are still happening. I just want to get home so I can officially start missing Palmon."

"That's an interesting way to think about it," Sora said. Her eyes focused on the other girl's pink cowboy hat. "To be honest, Mimi, I didn't think we'd end up being such good friends."

Mimi finally allowed her gaze to leave the window to look at Sora. She smiled. "I'll still need you after this, you know. As much as I can't deal with giant, digital slugs, I can't handle normal bugs either."

Sora laughed. "I guess we have more than a few problems to face back in our world."

"I have faith in us," Mimi said with a nod. "I just wish we could move on instead of being left in this trolley to mull over everything. Who's driving this thing?!"

"No one," Izzy piped in causing more than a few laughs.

"I'd be okay with never getting home," Sora said while looking down at Kari readjusting herself so she was leaning even more heavily against Sora's arm. "As terrifying as the Digital World was, it's more terrifying to think of what will happen once we get home."

Mimi threw her hands in the air. "Maybe we'll be heroes! With medals and keys to the city!"

Sora smiled wishing she had that much optimism. "Maybe. I wish I thought like you sometimes."

"Oh, it's probably better to think like you. If I thought like you I'd be prepared for any—Could we get home soon?!" she called out.

Izzy scratched at his keyboard. "Mimi, no one in this cart is controlling the speed."

"Hey, look!" TK exclaimed causing six other heads to swivel toward the front of the trolley where they were headed straight toward a blinding light that absorbed all the color previously encircling the trolley.

Mimi clapped her hands together and Sora frowned. She nudged Kari awake. "Time to face tomorrow," she said.

Eight kids made it home alright that day, but it wasn't quite the welcome any of them anticipated.

* * *

A/N: Continue? Yay or nay? Can't tell if this feels one-shotty to me. Reviews are appreciated! Thanks for reading!


End file.
